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May 3 Community: A week of climate action 2017

(caption for the above picture) Democracy in action! MPs from all four major political parties putting their parties stand in front of the New Zealand public on April 27 at the Aurora Centre for Performing Arts. From left - Denis O'Rourke from NZ First, Megan Woods from Labour, Stuart Smith from National, and Kennedy Graham from Greens. Also on stage is350.org organiser Charles Drace.(picture credit: Elizabeth Guthrey)

Upcoming: Congratulations Westpac for not funding Adani! - on May 8, hosted by 350 Christchurch

Highlights:

march for science, Apr 22

MPs debate climate policy, Apr 27

peoples climate parade, Apr 29

"Labour has called for establishing an independent climate commission, which will make sure we reach our pledged emission targets. We also want to bring agriculture into the Emission Trading Scheme. But what is important is to have in place a transition pathway so that while we switch to a more sustainable form of economy, jobs losses can be mitigated. Thus, transition planning is very important. That's why Labour has promised three years' free education for tertiary study and other post-school education that could be used at any point in a person's life." - Labour

"The Government takes our carbon emission targets very seriously and I am very glad that we have cross-party support for this issue. A testimony to this is the support 35 MPs across the political divide gave to the recently released Vivid Economies report 'Net Zero in New Zealand'. I also want to acknowledge the work my fellow panellist Kennedy Graham did in this regard. Apart from looking at railways, coastal pathways for freight transport - to reduce our dependency on roads and reduce pollution - also needs to be explored." - National

"Pointing fingers at the agricultural community won't help anyone. Instead, the Government should assist them in achieving carbon neutrality by helping in technological innovations geared towards changing the land-use patterns. In general too, our focus should be on innovation and developing technical expertise in renewable sources of energy, which we can then export to other countries. Additionally, we want to build railways of national importance to lessen our reliance on road transport." - NZ First

"There are no two ways about it. Agriculture needs to become more sustainable in New Zealand. Without it, we can't achieve carbon neutrality. But we need to work with the farming community to provide them with more sustainable viable alternatives. I find it quite ironic that when job loses happen due to market fluctuations, we simply accept it as a way of life. But when the question is about possible job losses due to switching to more sustainable economic practices, we simply can't accept it." - Greens

Above (picture credit Lauri Lee In-Jung Shore): Peoples Climate Parade on April 29, Playwright and narrator Simon Brown with the cast of 'Earthy Earth and the forces of Doom'; Below: March for Science on April 22